Why do you think the U.S. is a target for terrorists?

[cali]

Why is it "necessary" to have this enormous military and sprawling national security infrastructure?

Just curious. Do you think they "hate us for our freedoms"?

And if you don't, what do you think?

[Downwinder]

1. Ever read "The Ugly American?"

http://www.amazon.com/The-Ugly-American-Eugene-Burdick/dp/0393318672

[cali]

3. yes.

I'm curious about what DUers think, and I'm trying to expand the discussion about the NSA and Snowden into the macro: How did we get there.

[Downwinder]

7. NSA and Snowden are a perfect example.

Are we concerned about how people in other countries feel about having their communications hoovered up?

[loli phabay]

2. depends on the terrorist, the are an infinite number of reasons why someone

Would attack another for political gain.

[giftedgirl77]

4. 2 part answer

First of all the only reason our military is enormous right now is the two stupid wars we have fought for the last 12 years. We were allowing every Tom, Dick, & Jane into the military regardless of their educational & criminal background. There is absolutely no need for the amount of troops we have right now & it is being scaled back drastically by weeding out the ones that are going nowhere, can't meet standards, or commit any type of misconduct.

Part two from talking to many people from these countries that "hate" us, it's not our freedoms they have a problem with. Their issues come from the fact that we are illegally holding people for no good damn reason, we like to act like the world police, & for the most part other than the interactions they have with us in their host nation all they see are the hateful bastards that get all the media time.

While there is a large group of people that thinks Americans are a bunch of bigoted assholes that want nothing more than to invade middle eastern countries once you are there and get a chance to interact with them as people on a daily basis you find out they really are kind natured individuals stuck in the middle of some terrible shit.

[BenzoDia]

5. Cause we wrecked a lot of countries through direct and proxy wars.

[Flashmann]

6. Do you think they "hate us for our freedoms"?

No...At least not primarly...I think we're hated and are a target for our our unwavering dedication to meddling in other countries domestic affairs,usually under the pretense of saving them from some bogeyman or another,or trying to force them to convert to some acceptable(to us) form of democracy,that we so hypocritically posit ourselves as a shining example of.That we seem more prone to pull this shit in countries/regions in possession of some resource which we covet,oil being a prime example.That in our pursuit of the afore mentioned,we so cavalierly lay waste to their lands,murder their people and steal their national treasures.For our attitude that our way is the right way,the only right way,and that all others should automatically and unquestioningly bend to our will.For our obvious and blatant expectations that,while demanding other countries adhere to ideals we force on them,we don't do so ourselves...Do as I say,not as I do mentality,with the assumption seeming to be that we don't consider "foreigners" clever enough to to discern the hypocrisies and inconsistencies,probably because those in power to institute such policies recognize that many,TOO MANY, of our own people aren't clever enough.And probably a growing global awareness,judging by some editorials in foreign news media,that if we were sincerely concerned about other nations well being,we'd be providing aid in positive forms,such as infrastructure,medicine,food,water purification and education,rather than smash and grabs of their resources,as well as raping pillaging and murdering.

My opinion.

[KittyWampus]

8. people like the Saudis paint us as demons to deflect from their own corruption & encourage

people to attack us and fund that process.

[cali]

10. wow. interesting. not surprising, but that belief certainly explains a lot about you.

[KittyWampus]

16. Yes, I paid attention during the Bush/Cheney years. Didn't you?

Very convenient that the Bush's & Saudi royals benefitted in multiple ways from demonizing the "others".

from 2008:

Saudis faulted for funding terror
THE NATION


WASHINGTON — Saudi Arabia remains the world's leading source of money for Al Qaeda and other extremist networks and has failed to take key steps requested by U.S. officials to stem the flow, the Bush administration's top financial counter-terrorism official said Tuesday.

Stuart A. Levey, a Treasury undersecretary, told a Senate committee that the Saudi government had not taken important steps to go after those who finance terrorist organizations or to prevent wealthy donors from bankrolling extremism through charitable contributions, sometimes unwittingly.


………………


From 2010:

Saudi Arabia is the single biggest contributor to the funding of Islamic extremism and is unwilling to cut off the money supply, according to a leaked note from Hillary Clinton.

[leveymg]

35. Nonetheless, we continue to work with and train Saudi terrorists to become "our terrorists" -

that blows back on us. Frequently. These terrorists that are part of CIA programs account for the vast majority of US mass casualty events since the '93 WTC bombing.

Yet, we never seem to learn from those lessons and don't seem to understand basic facts about who these terrorists are and the relationship they have with with US intelligence agencies that allow them into the country.

9/11 was also the result of that, as were a slew of attacks and attempted attacks since by AQ operatives attracted and trained by double agents, such as Anwar al-Awlaki.

[KittyWampus]

49. exactly. all the while the MIC makes a killing.

[leveymg]

50. Literally.

[truebluegreen]

37. So it's all on them? The authoritarians in Saudi Arabia and their ilk...

and has nothing to do with us?

Wow.

[KittyWampus]

48. Oh, it's not just the Saudis. Apparently DU'ers haven't been paying attention OR prefer to see the

USA as the great satan who starts everything.

Whether it's the USA, Saudi Arabia or any other country… there are always those who stir shit up and demonize others to take attention away from their own corruption.

And turn a profit while they're at it.

[truebluegreen]

51. Sorry. Didn't understand your response.

The US is the Great Satan? The Saudis or any other country are? Whose corruption?

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

9. I don't know because...

They seem to be doing all of their terrorizing in the least populated parts of the country, like Nebraska and Montana. I have no idea what they want to scare the shit out of them folk. Meanwhile, us folk in Chicago, NYC, and SF seem to be imune to the terror!!

[warrior1]

11. can you answer your own question?

it had a lot to do with the US having bases on holy land after the first gulf war

[cali]

15. yes, I can answer it

the bases of course, but I think it's far more than that. Our foreign policy history not just in the ME, but around the world, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, our unbalanced policies re I/P, our drone bombing in Pakistan, Somalia etc. We have a history of overthrowing leaders in other countries and assassinating them. I could go on, but that's plenty, don't you think?



Does it all spring from the history of U.S. actions and our ongoing actions? Probably not, but the lions' share does.

[warrior1]

19. well

the ME is about to erupt. The dictators keep the oppress down, and when they finally are able to elect a new leader say like Egypt, the people are still rising up calling Morsi as bad if not worst that of Mubarak. They whole place is fucking mess. With new more moderate leaders, like the new President of Iran, maybe with baby steps they, the young people, will want to move into the 20/21st century. They see the change coming, but it's not going to be fixed in our life times and their will be those who will want to kill us.

Thanks to dick cheney and bush they've created a whole another group of ME people that have no love for us. Why should they.

We still have to protect us, and the President is using the tools he has to do that.

[DCBob]

12. I think its mostly how we overwhelm societies with our culture, business, influence, etc.

In many cases we are seen as a direct threat to their way of life, culture, religion, etc. Its not hard to imagine how some would get angry enough to want to fight back any way they can.

[Lasher]

13. Haters gonna hate.

The USA is not uniquely or even especially hated by terrorists.

[ismnotwasm]

14. It's a very long convoluted story that starts with racist colonialism, includes a fewwars

And continues with racist/classist corporatism. The US isn't entirely to blame; any government policy or agency or profit-at-all costs driven corporation is implicit or complicit in reactionary fury.

[Cleita]

17. Because we have a terrible foreign policy that dates back to

the nineteenth century. At the time we developed a policy to protect our interests from other nations' interests if they were in conflict with ours, but it has become mainly about our interests at the cost of any others, no matter how badly and unfairly we exploit developing nations and their resources. We have propped up and backed financially some of the worst totalitarian regimes and dictators to accomplish this. This has lead the people of those exploited nations to want to kill us and everything we stand for. They do like our pop culture though, just not us.

[Gregorian]

20. Petroleum and meddling.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. We have an unfortunate, and futile, habit of interfering in other peoples' lives.

And, an equally futile and childish ability to be surprised when they don't love us for doing so.

[bigwillq]

22. Because the US could never mind its own business (nt)

[Motown_Johnny]

23. IMO it is because of our role in eliminating Palestine and our military support

of Israel.


Face it, we helped wipe a country off the map and we helped create another one in it's place. We also give enough military support to this new country that it's continued existence is guaranteed.


Of course the people who's country no longer exist hates us. What would you expect? It doesn't matter to them that we think it was justified, they disagree.

[Monkie]

24. it might even help if people stopped calling them terrorists?

people have already given most reasons for the hate of the US.
so i would like to try something different.

muslims, and arabs, and iranians, or anyone else for that matter, they are just human beings, our brothers and sisters, the only difference is a separation of a few generations.
correct me if i am wrong but modern humans and modern life started in what we now call turkey and iran.
even when we attack them most muslims or arabs or iranians, they just live their life, they have their own problems, hopes and dreams, and mostly that does not involve hurting other people.

if "we" stopped demonising "them" it would be a start.

[kestrel91316]

30. The 9/11 terrorists were, in fact, terrorists. And I will continue to call them such.

But that doesn't mean that all Arabs are, or all muslims are, or ever everyone who dislikes the US.

[Nye Bevan]

39. I'll stop calling them terrorists

when they stop blowing people up and beheading people.

[Monkie]

41. "they"? bit rich that, coming from the US, the terror state

did you vote for obama? give money to the campaign or a pac?
then you provided material support to terrorism. and it is legal to drone you, and then "double tap" your family.
and anyone standing anywhere near you that is a adult, is a potential terrorist, too, and fair game.
and any child standing near you, within range of the drone, is collateral damage, a accident.

this is the logic your government uses?
if no laws apply to the US, why do you expect others to obey them?

and i will stop calling the US the terror state, when it stops breaching international law, when it stops locking people up without trail, when it stops waging wars of aggression, when it stops committing crimes against peace, when it stops overthrowing democracies, when it stops arming and supporting dictators.

"you" have no right to call anyone a terrorist, there is no moral high ground when you are knee deep in the swamp.
if you want people to forgive you, if you want peace, you had better learn to forgive others.

[polly7]

25. Why are defenseless nations around the world the target for

U.S. and Western terrorism?

I think if we try to understand how the targets of our 'humanitarian missions'/replacement of gov'ts for more resource-friendly ones, must feel, we'd have the easy answers. But, we don't care how they feel. On and on and on it goes, year after year ... economic terrorism, wars disguised by many lies, unfair trade practices that impoverish and starve, undermining international treaties meant to protect the weakest and poorest, our corporate giants that steal land all over the world and destroy lives, etc, etc, etc. There are many good reasons to hate us all, yet we claim to be the peacekeepers and policemen. It's a joke, really. They aren't stupid.

[MuseRider]

33. GREAT answer. n/t

[Coyotl]

26. Ever read American history?

[cali]

29. why yes. I have my MA in history

[Coyotl]

56. So, the question is rhetorical then!

[kestrel91316]

27. Because we act like the spoiled rich kid, bulling damned near everybody or bribing them to get

our way.

[davidn3600]

28. We stick our nose in everyone's business

We tell societies and cultures how they are supposed to live. We tell governments how they are supposed to rule. And we make money off of doing this.

[Jarla]

31. ARE we such a significant target for terrorists?

According to the Institute for Economics and Peace, countries like India and Russia are much more threatened by terrorism than the U.S. is. Check out www.visionofhumanity.org.

[MuseRider]

32. I don't think we are particularly

a target, no more than anyone else however if we would stop meddling and trying to police the rest of the world because we are #1! when clearly we don't live up to who we say we are we might cool things down a bit.

[geek tragedy]

34. Question: why didn't Catholics target the United States for terror bombings

to avenge how we oppressed and killed millions upon millions of Catholics in Latin America and supported the oppression of Catholics in Ireland by our British allies?

It takes a certain mentality to ask why someone is the target of a crime rather than examining what it is that made someone commit that crime.

[truebluegreen]

36. They hate us because we walk all over them--foreigners, especially those with oil--

for our own benefit and profit, while telling them it's for their own good. Who wouldn't hate us for that?

[Nye Bevan]

38. Hollywood movies feature sex and scantily clad women.

Women here wear shorts and tank tops.

We harbored Salman Rushdie when he was subject to a fatwa.

Our laws allow people to criticize Islam and Muhammed without legal sanction.

We allow women to drive.

Not only do we allow homosexuality (which is punishable by death under Islam) we allow gay people to marry.

Lots of Jewish people. Especially in New York City.

We are the Great Satan.

[Douglas Carpenter]

42. would you suppose that is pretty much also the same reason why the IRA terrorist attacked the Brits?

and perhaps also the same reason why the ANC carried out terrorist attacks against the white establishment?

Back in the 50's and even 60's the U.S. was not being targeted by Muslim groups, were they?

[Nye Bevan]

44. Ayatollah Khomeini first described the US as the "Great Satan" in 1979.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Satan

I'm not sure what (if anything) Jimmy Carter did to provoke this epithet, but when you have a whole bunch of religious crazies whose supreme leader has decided that a particular country is the Great Satan, you don't have to be a genius to guess what will follow.

[Romulus Quirinus]

46. Could it have something to do with the fact that we overthrew

their government and installed the Shah?

Nah! That's Murica-hatin' hippie talk!

[Nye Bevan]

47. One can certainly question Carter's policies towards the Shah.

On a 16-hour visit, Carter became the first and only U.S. president to visit Iran, and at dinner made an infamous toast:

"Iran, because of the great leadership of the Shah, is an island of stability in one of the more troubled areas of the world. This is a great tribute to you, Your Majesty, and to your leadership and to the respect and the admiration and love which your people give to you. The transformation that has taken place in this nation is indeed remarkable under your leadership."

http://history.stackexchange.com/questions/2860/what-was-president-jimmy-carters-role-in-the-iranian-revolution

[Douglas Carpenter]

40. the collapse of Soviet power

It is inevitable that a country that dominates the world in so many ways as the United States would engender significant resentment and resistance to this hegemony. During the post World War II Soviet period this resistance whether militarily, economically, philosophically or morally - was led and to a large extent systematized and somewhat regulated by the Soviet Union and acted out through a combination of state actors and movements of national liberation that essentially functioned as pro-states. The end of the Soviet era resulted in only the loosest of alliances or totally independent actors carrying out acts of resistance against western hegemony without the relative regulation that previously existed when the Soviet Union served as the leader of the resistance.

[FarCenter]

43. Because the American middle class is much of the Global 1%

An income of $34,000 puts you in the top 1% globally.

[jwirr]

45. IMO it could easily be because we have not changed at all since the book "The Ugly American" was

published. We still allow our businesses to go in and destroy them much more than we help them. We still think that we have a God given right to tell them how they must live and enforce it with our troops if necessary. The CIA and other international powers from our country have treated them like they are beginning to treat us for decades now - what did we think they would do - thank us?

[LWolf]

52. Because we're bullies.

They don't hate us for our freedoms, but for our global policies.

[JI7]

53. why are Girls shot and killed for wanting to go to school

[Demo_Chris]

54. We're not particularly. nt

[ForeignandDomestic]

55. Follow the yellow brick road.

It's elementary follow the money!!!